Mistakes
by Neyane
Summary: Conan, ill, stay home while Kogoro and Ran go out for dinner. During the evening, intruders break into Kogoro's house and kidnap Conan. Kogoro notice it when he returns, and despite the message from the kidnappers, decide to call the police. But why did they do this? What's going to happen now? Translation of my French fic "Erreurs répétitives".
1. Chapter 1 : Night kidnapping

Hey !

I know, I haven't updated "Looking for a case" for so long! But here it's different. It's a translation of one of my French fanfictions, "Erreurs répétitives". Some people (well, two, actually) asked for it, so here is the beginning! Dunno when I'll have time to translate the following chapters but it should be more quick than other fic I'm translating, as the fic is already complete in another langage and I'm not afraid to take some distance from the original as it's mine.

Don't hesitate to point out mistakes by the way! Reviews and all are much appreciated too ;)

Of course, Detective Conan doesn't belong to me but to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 : Night kidnapping**

* * *

"Dad, hurry up! We're going to be late!"

"Let me one more minute!" Kogoro grumbled. "Anyway, why did you set a date with this woman, again? I don't want to hear her lamentations on my behavior all over the dinner!"

"Dad!"

It was pretty usual. Ran had invited her parents out for dinner, but without telling them the other would be there too. She had told Kogoro only ten minutes before going, which had slowed him down a lot in his preparations. Obviously, Ran had noticed and was now pushing him to get ready.

"I'm good, let's go!" Kogoro suddenly annouced.

"Finally! Conan-kun, take care and don't go to bed too late, right? All you have to do for dinner is to heat up the dishes I made for you using the microwaves."

"Ok, got it Ran. Have fun!"

 _I'm not a little child_ , Conan thought bitterly. He was watching them leave, leaning back against the wall, coughing a bit.

"You better stay in your bed tonight", Kogoro said.

"Get out!" Cut Ran, pushing her dad in the stairs. "See you Conan-kun!"

"Have a good evening", Conan answered.

The door was shut close and suddenly the silence overwhelmed the room, after the noisy leaving of those two. The bespectacled boy sighed. He had to stay home because of his illness, and he was actually pretty happy about this. He was too tired to hear Eri and Kogoro argue all the evening. The idea of spending his evening in his futon reading was far more appealing, he didn't need Kogoro to think about it.

Darness were invading the city pretty fast and early on the evening now. It was also getting cold outside. Walking out in T shirt was no option anymore. No wonder why Conan got ill, it happened almost everytime at this moment of the year.

The child closed the door of Kogoro's office and went upstairs in the kitchen. He wasn't hungry yet, but put the dishes Ran had made for him in the microwaves before heading to his and Kogoro's room. There was no point staying dressed with his day clothes if he wasn't going to get out, his pyjamas would do it. Even if he began watching TV a bit, he could use a blanket.

He was still looking for his pajamas when odd sounds got his attention. He raised his head to look around and determine where it came from. It seemed the noises where coming from the street, or... The front door? Thinking about thieves, Conan gave up on his pyjamas research to go back in the living room.

There was no more sounds. Maybe it came from people in the street. Or from the cafe beneath the agency. Anyway, the small sleuth could see nothing odd, so he went back to his room.

One minute after, he had found the top of his pajamas, and was struggling to get the other part, which was stucked under one of the foot of Kogoro's bed. How did it lend there, Conan had no idea, but he couldn't get it free from the bed. Of course, his child's strenght didn't help.

He kept trying for a bit before stopping. He had to try something else, before he teared it.

New sounds came from outside the room. Muffled footsteps, mainly. Conan, who was sitting on his futon pondering how to get his pajamas, got on his feet quickly and approached the door. Discreetly, he peeked into the living room, and froze.

There were people in the house. He could see two intruders : one of them just got in Ran's room, the other was leaning against a wall, his eyes probably flying over the room even if Conan couldn't see them. Both were wearing a balaclava hidding their face, and no one was using a lamp : it was dark, but not enough that they couldn't see where they walked, thanks to the light coming from outside's street lamps. Moreover, they would have been more visible with lamps, the neighbourhood might have noticed.

The kid stepped back into the room, out of these people's sight. They were definitely thieves, or at least people with inclear but probably not very legal intentions, judging from how they got there and when. But why? What were they looking for in Kogoro Mouri's place? If they were interested in his case files, they were inspecting the wrong area, but they probably wouldn't have missed the office, especially since it was were they received customers, and they had to pass it to get there. Maybe they were breaking into random houses, but it was pretty uncommon for thieves, and pretty risky on the top of that.

No, it was really strange that thieves broke into such a famous detective's house without knowing it, especially with the agency's name written on the office's windows. Well, it didn't matter. Conan had to call the police. He tried to find his phone, but failed that, before remembering both his Conan's and Shinichi's phone were in charge. The closest phone was the living room's one, and he couldn't just go and make a call to the police from it with one of the intruders in the same room.

While the small detective was musing about this, he suddenly had a coughing fit, catching him off guard. He tried to repress it and not be too noisy, but it was a violent one, and he quickly new the intruders had heard him. Footsteps from the living room were coming his way, and the person looking in Ran's room had stopped his researches. Well, at least, they were no light on when they got in, preventing them to know immediately about Conan's presence, and allowing him to see there were thieves before. But he had to improvise anyway.

The first thief got in the bedroom, slamming the door wide open, and stopped in the doorframe, probably looking for him, before stepping in. Conan had hid behind a piece of furniture. He had put on his shoes to go and lock the office's room and, probably because of this illness confusing him, had forgotten to remove them. Well, at least he didn't stood on his futon with it, and right now he was pretty happy about this. He activated his shoes along with his belt, got outside his hide to have a better view of the thief and kicked the soccer ball that just hit the ground.

The intruder turned to him but froze in surprise long enough for Conan to have a proper aim at his head. The person hit the piece of furniture behind him, making some objects fall, before collapsing, knocked out.

The other intruder chose this moment to get in. This footsteps warned Conan and he had already his watch ready when he got in the room and stopped in surprise, seeing his accomplice on the ground. A needle later, and he was joining him in the dreamland.

The boy sighed in relief and stepped over the unconscious bodies to get to the living room. Well, it went better than he thought. He picked up the phone and dialed the police's number.

His instincts suddenly roared, warning him of a danger. He wanted to turn back, but it was already too late.

There was a third intruder. He pulled the phone Conan was holding off while gaging him with a handkerchief. A handkerchief with a sweet smell coming from it, reminding Conan of chloroform.

The boy took a breathe of it before realising what happened and what it was, and his vision suddenly blurred until darkness overcame everything.

* * *

"Dad, move!"

"Alcohol, alcohol everywhere!" Kogoro said, trying to get those words into a song while he climbed the stairs with a not so well balance.

"Dad! It's the last time I invite both of you to the restaurant! Next time it will be at mom's, that way you won't be able to ruin everything by drinking and watching every nice women who pass!"

"No way I'll eat in this woman's home! Especially if she's cooking!"

"Dad!"

"Yeah, I got it, I'm your father, so what?"

The drunken man managed to get away from her daughter by entering the living room stumbling.

"Go to sleep now", Ran ordered.

"Yeah, going..."

"And don't wake up Conan-kun!"

"He won't die of it", Kogoro mumbled after entering his room.

His feet then stepped on something unsteady and he felt the gravity call him to the ground.

"Wuaaa!" Kogoro yelled as he felt on his back. "Ouch, he could clean when he's letting stuff around, that brat!"

"Dad!" Ran's voice answered with a threatening tone from her own room.

Still complaining, but with a lower voice so she couldn't hear, the sleuth got up and saw that several objects had fallen. The carpet wasn't flat, there was a fold and it wasn't quite in line with the furnitures in the room. Did the brat fall here too? He could have put away the objects and set back the carpet!

Kogoro cast a grumpy glare toward the kid's bed. His mind flooded by alcohol needed several seconds to notice the sheets were oddly low. He turned on the light and looked again. Then, he understood : the brat wasn't in his bed.

"Gone to the bathroom, uh?" Kogoro guessed. "Well, that's perfect! I'll tell him off when he'll be back!"

The mustached man got ready to bed and waited for the kid under his sheet, but no one was coming. He heard Ran get back to her room from the bathroom, but she didn't seem to have met Conan. Still, the child wasn't in his bed, nor anywhere in the room, and didn't seem to be around at all, as he wasn't in front of the TV, and didn't greet them when they entered the house.

"Where did that brat go?" Kogoro wondered out loud. "He had to stay home! And he couldn't go to the professor's, if I remember correctly, he's out for the night for some kind of conference with the girl living with him."

He was getting annoyed about this. He went to see in the living room with a more stable walk. There were no light on anywere in the house, except from his room. Come to think of it, he remembered seeing Conan's pajamas on his futon. Moreover, those fallen objects and untidy carpet weren't like him. Usually the kid cleaned up behind him in such situations. By the way, would he really had made so much objects fall if he did fell there? Even if he had tried to put his hand on the top of the piece of furniture to prevent his fall, he wouldn't have been able to reach a lot of them, especially since you're usually not straight up when falling.

There was definitely something strange going on. Kogoro went in the kitchen and found Ran's dishes for Conan in the microwave. He probably heated it up, but never retrieved it. Sure, sometimes you're not much hungry when you're ill, but if he had put it in the microwave, it was because he wanted to eat. So what, did he forget about it?

There was another unusual detail. He didn't need his keys to enter, even though the kid was supposed to lock behind them. When he got at his office's level on his way back, he used the door to steady himself, and could see at the time the door was locked. So the kid didn't forget to lock it, so why forget this one? It wasn't like him. Illness couldn't explain everything, especially where the boy currently was.

Kogoro was thinking hard. He really couldn't think of why the kid would have left without telling anyone, and while he has a cold. He got back in the living room, and only then, noticed Conan's shoes not far from their room's door. He frowned. What were they doing here? Especially if Conan had gone out, he would probably have used those shoes.

The sleuth went to the front door and checked on the lock from outside. It indeed had marks proving it has been forced open.

Suddenly perfectly aware, the detective got back inside and noticed the living room's phone wasn't hung up correctly. He approached it and checked the last number called from here.

"Beika main police station. We are sorry to inform you the line is currently busy..."

It was enough for Kogoro who hung up. He hadn't called the police today, especially not from this phone. Something was really wrong. But what happened? Robbers wouldn't abduct a witness. Either they silence him a was or another, either his presence make them flee. Conan being a child, the first option was way more believable, but why did they took him? Obviously he hadn't the time to call the police, or they would be here, and the only reason thieves would take a hostage would be this one.

Kogoro grumbled. Great, now the brat didn't even need to get out of the house to put himself in trouble! Of course, it had to happen at such a late hour, too. Well, if Conan hadn't the time to call the police, he would.

There probably weren't any listening device on the living room phone, or the culprits would have hung it up properly, but Kogoro prefered to call Megure directly, and for that he needed his cell phone. He could tell Ran afterwards. After all, she may have noticed something too, and she'd kill him anyway if the brat disappeared and he didn't let her know.

But on his way to his room, he finally noticed a paper on the table.

 _We have the boy. For his safety, you better not call the police. We'll contact you soon._

Kogoro clenched his fists. He didn't seem drunk anymore.

Well, at least the kid was alive, and probably healthy, if the cold didn't count. But he felt right about not wanting to go to his stupid dinner, it would have prevented this! Still... Was it the kidnappers's initial goal, than to abduct the kid? If yes, it meant they have been watching the agency to be sure he was alone.

Kogoro went quickly around the home to make sure nothing has been stolen, and indeed, only Conan was missing. The abductors didn't seem to have let any clue behind them, so all he could do was wait until they called him. But maybe not...

The sleuth opened the window and watched the street, looking for anything suspicious, before closing it. While he headed to Ran's room to wake her up, a plan growing in his mind, he suddenly remembered the "we" on the note left by the kidnappers. So there was more than one culprit. It made sense. One probably fell in his room trying to grab the boy, and maybe knocked himself out at the time. The kid tried to take advantage of it to call the police but then got caught by another abductor. Or else, he would have tried to flee the house to call the police from outside. It would also explain the phone poorly hung up.

Yes, he should definitely wake up Ran. The culprits didn't seem to watch him anymore, and were probably expecting him to discover Conan's disappearance in the morning. So maybe, if she called the police from outside tonight, in case there was a device spying phone conversations in the house – from what he remembered, such things didn't always need to be on the phone, and could intercept cell phones too, depending on the kind of device used – they wouldn't notice. She would probably attract less attention than him. It was a bit risky, but after all, he had better chances to arrest them with the police on his side, especially since the culprits would probably be pretty cautions around a famous detective like him.

* * *

"That freaking mustached sleuth!" Eri cursed as she passed the doorframe of her place.

The evening has been pretty unpleasant to her, but she wasn't surprised about it. Ran kept trying, but it always endend up the same way. When would she understand it was pointless?

Still, her daughter's stubborness made the lawyer smile. But she was still angry at Kogoro, and certainly wouldn't be able to sleep like that.

She entered her living room and turned on the TV. Some serie would probably do it to change her mind. Or work, but it wasn't the place and time... Nor the good state of mind to do so!

So, Eri Kisaki, a brillant lawyer, collapsed lazily on her couch in front of the TV. Once from time to time couldn't hurt, right?

The serie on TV was an americain police serie. Lucky, it was the beginning, so the began to watch. The situation was beginning to get really interesting when someone rang to the door.

"Who could that be?" Eri wondered out loud.

The woman stood up to go open the door. She had a strange feeling about who it was.

"Hi mom, I hope you weren't sleeping", Ran begun.

It was indeed her daughter, who seemed to be in a hurry and a bit awkward. Eri didn't pay attention to that and answered :

"If it's to forgive that pervert, you can go home!"

"No, it's not about that! Can I get in?"

Finally, Eri noticed Ran's strange behavior. She glanced around behind her daughter, smiled and let her in. As soon as the door closed behind Ran, Eri turner to her, hands on her hips with a suspicious look.

"So what is it about?"

* * *

 _ **Well, I made it though the first chapter in only one day! I hope it's not too bad. I read a whole fic in English yesterday, it helps me to think in English and all, but it doesn't make me bilingual, and I'm still not used to write in English (including translations from French to English, it's harder that way). I'll probably ask some of my English speakers friends if they're okay to beta read it (one of them actually asked for this translation, so...).**_

 _ **Also, if you already read the French version, you probably noticed some differences. It's normal, I feel more free to add details to make it more realistic, and stuff like that. Even if in the end, it'll probably make the English version kind of better than the original, French one, which isn't what I want, but anyway...**_

 _ **See you soon, I hope!**_


	2. Chapter 2 : Initiative

Hello again!

Well, I must say I'm a bit proud of myself (narcissism? Where?), as I've finished to translate this chapter the day after the first one! I post it a day later 'cause I wanted to take some advance in translating the first chapter. Don't get used to have that much updates ^^'

Anyway, thanks a lot for the reviews, favs and follows! It's really great! I wish a bit more people would let a review but I probably ask a bit too much =P I guess it's not too horrible to read, as no one mentionned my writing nor mistakes, but again, don't hesitate if you have anything constructive to say about that! Thanks again to the ones who let a review ;)

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 2 : Initiative**

* * *

"So Conan-kun had been abducted."

It was several minutes later, after the high school teen had sumarized what happened. The two women were still standing more or less in the middle of the room but had moved to the living room. Ran was near the phone. Eri caught the TV remote to switch it off so the noise coming from it wouldn't disturb them, even if the music and gunshot seemed pretty accurate with the ongoing case.

"Yes. Dad says he doesn't see why thieves would have kidnapped him, so..."

"... they probably intented to do this from the beginning", the lawyer ended. "Well, I think he's right, and you can call the police from here. The line should be available now."

Ran nodded and took the handset. While she was dialing the number, her mother walked away slowly, lost in her thoughts. She wasn't so sure that calling the police was a good idea, as the criminals had let instructions about this. But she also agreed, without knowing it, that catching the culprits would be hard without their help. They were probably going to ask for a ransom or something similar. So their best chance would be during the exchange, but they'd probably manage for them not to meet.

"Hey, mom! Are you listening?"

Eri raised her head and understood that Ran had been calling her for a bit. She had a sorry smile and answered :

"Sorry, I was thinking. So, could you talk to police chief Megure?"

"Yes. They say they're going to come here first, just to be safe. Inspectors Sato and Takagi are around and should arrive first."

"Perfect." Eri approved. "Ask Kogoro to come too, then."

"Okay mom!"

Her daughter's sudden enthusiasm didn't went unnoticed by Eri, but she didn't mind. Of course, the situation wasn't to her arguments with the moustached sleuth, and Ran was probably hoping this could get them closer, or at least reconcile them. Eri couldn't blame her for that, coming here was the most logical choice, as they had spent the evening together.

Sigh. She could manage Kogoro's presence if he behaved a bit.

"Ding dong!"

Eri was surprised by the ringing. They've been fast! Ran rushed to the door and seconds later, inspectors Sato and Takagi were coming in, already discussing with Ran.

"Did you ask Mouri-san to come along here?" Sato asked the two woman.

"Yes. You called him Ran, right?" Eri checked.

"I've sent him a message, he's coming as quickly as he can."

"Perfect", Sato concluded.

The lawyer noticed Ran seemed to hesitate to say something. She turned toward her and asked :

"Do you have something to tell us? Go on, it can help."

"Well... I have an idea, but I'm not sure..."

"What is it?" Takagi wondered.

"I was thinking... Maybe Conan isn't in the same room than his captors. I mean, if he's alone, I could try to call him. He may tell us usefull stuff..."

"It's risky", Eri began. "Most of the time, kidnappers are near their victim, but yes, they can be in another room for example. But does Conan-kun have his phone with him? Even if he had it tonight, they probably took it now. But if they didn't think about it, or tied him up and gagged him and therefore thought they didn't need to take his phone... I don't know. It might actually offer us some interesting informations, even if all he can do is pick up the call, with the surrounding's sounds. You could also pretend you didn't know about his kidnapping because you came here to get back something you've forgot."

"We can still suggest the idea to Mouri-san and Megure-keibu", Sato said. "Better do this from here, but you'll have to be very careful so the abductors don't understand you've called the police."

"What would they do if they notice?" Ran asked, worried.

"Not kill him, that's for sure", Takagi affirmed firmly in a reassuring tone. "Maybe jostle him a bit roughly, but that's all. They need him. Anyway, we can't do anything until your father and the backup coming with Megure-keibu arrive."

"Indeed", Sato agreed. "It would be stupid to try anything for now. But we can still plan the call. Before that, Ran, please tell us from the beginning with more details please. Anything could be a decisive clue."

"Alright..."

* * *

"So, the only thing you don't understand is why Conan-kun's shoes, that you found near your room, where there, is that right? You say they were tidy when you left, and that Conan may have put them on when he went to lock the office's door and forgot to remove them. Are you sure about this?" Megure asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. The brat would have put them out properly, and not in the middle of the house. And I don't see him taking the time tu put them off to throw them at the criminals, don't you? Moreover, his slippers were in place, tidy. I think he had his shoes on when his kidnappers entered, and that they removed it when they caught the brat, but I don't see why. It won't prevent him from trying to escape. As there was still a risk someone would come, or us getting back earlier, they wouldn't have taken the time to do so if not for a reason. Or the brat tried to tell us something witht that but I don't see what it means." Kogoro explained.

The policemen nodded, thinking. This point was the only thing they didn't get. Everything else seemed pretty explanable, but that... If Conan had done it himself, what did it mean? If the culprits did it, why? They couldn't picture the response...

"Megure-keibu?" Sato stepped in. "Should we try Ran-chan's idea?"

"I'm not sure about this" Megure confessed. "But it could indeed be interesting. Either we speak with Conan-kun, which would ensure he's fine, and he definitely could give us very useful informations, either we talk to his captors, which will happen at some point, and we would have the advantage of the surprise. Yes, it could help... If he indeed has his phone with him."

"Well, the only was to know is to try", Eri suggested. "Kogoro isn't going to get back to check for the kid's phone, it would take too long."

Megure nodded and shot a glance at the technician who was working on the tracking system linked to the phone. The technician asked for some more minutes to finish his installation.

They all agreed that Ran would be the one to call. She was younger, could be less suspicious, and could tell the captors she did this without telling her father. Of course they'd be a bit sceptical, she was Kogoro Mouri's daughter after all, but it seemed a lot less risky that way.

They gathered around the phone, still giving Ran advices, waiting for the technician to give them the green light to call. But before that, Eri's phone rang, surprising everyone. Without thinking, Eri, who was also close to her daughter to reassure her, picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"It seems Mouri-tantei has some trouble reading", a threatening voice began. "Do not worry, I think I have a good way to help him with that..."

* * *

 _ **I'll try to update as soon as I can! As I didn't start school (well, university in fact =P) yet, it should help, but from next week, dunno... We'll see!  
**_ _ **Again, don't hesitate to let reviews and all.  
**_ _ **Small spoiler of the next chap : you'll hear about Conan in it ;)**_

Translation done on the 14th of september, 2017, or 14-09-2017 in French order (I suck at writing dates in English).


	3. Chapter 3 : First mistake

Hi!

Well, from now I think you'll have to wait a bit more for future updates, as my university lessons have begun ^^' I'll try not to be too slow but well, can't say I'll be!

Anyway, thanks again for the follows and favs! As usual, don't hesitate to let reviews, especially if you have mistakes to point out (I'm just asking not to be too rude).

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 3 : First mistake**

* * *

He still felt confused and dizzy, but he recognized these symptoms, and especially this smell of.. Chloroform.

Conan felt a bit lost, his memories of what happened refusing to get back. He opened his eyes and tried to figure out where he was by sitting up, but his hands and legs wouldn't move. Something prevented them from doing so, and it wasn't his muscles that didn't respond.

Suddenly, his memories flashed in his mind : the intruders, his coughing, the struggle, and the third person. Now, he was...

In an unknown room, from a flat or a house. There was a wooden floor, the walls were painted in purple, and there was some pictures and paints on it, but no furniture. Those drawings and photos on the walls made Conan think the person who decorated the place did random stuff, because it was strange associations. Maybe so the boy wouldn't be able to get anything from it. Same goes for the missing furnitures. Marks on the ground betrayed there was some before, there were rectangular shapes more or less deep on the ground, and without any dust, so the furnitures in there probably have been moved recently.

The small sleuth tried to sit again but failed for the second time. He was tied up to the wrists and ankles, a piece of duct tape as a gag preventing him from cursing. He wasn't used from being limited in his movements yet. Well, it would be hard in this condition to get up, and not very helpful, but still...

He also noticed missing his shoes, but it didn't surprise him. The kidnapper he knocked out with it probably saw the light coming from it and decided to remove them by precaution.

He was still wondering how to get out of here when he heard noises near him. They came from the next room. Probably his captors, staying around their prey to make sure it wouldn't escape.

 _Not a chance_ , thought Conan bitterly. _There's only one door here. I could try to_ _run away_ _using_ _the_ _only_ _window but I have no idea what floor this is._

He heard the keys turning in the lock. He tried out the ties's solidity, but he clearly wouldn't have the time to get rid of them before the person came in. He was defenseless against his abductors, and it made him ill-at-ease, but he couldn't do much about it for now.

The door opened, letting a man about Kogoro's age, bald and not looking at all like a bad guy. But he obviously was, if Conan was here, especially since he didn't seem surprised by this presence. He even seemed satisfied seeing he was awake. As for Conan, he was wondering why the guy didn't cover his face. It wasn't a very good thing for him. Usually, when kidnappers intend on releasing their victim, they try not to show their face, but this man was doing no effort in that way. He feared they never intended on letting him go. He better be careful.

The bald man was wakling toward him quietly. No worries, not in a hurry. Just thinking everything was in hand, everything would go well, as he had planned. He was wrong : the situation could always turn to another's side. Conan wouldn't let go any opportunity for that, even if he hadn't any for now.

His captor took him and put him on his shoulder, as gentle with him as if he was carrying a potato sack. The boy wasn't surprised about that. To play with one's life, you better not care too much, or you wouldn't. Conan didn't even tried to get free : it was useless.

They passed into a furnished room, bigger than the one Conan woke up in, but it wasn't what caught his attention. He was far more interested by the laptop keeping another man busy, while a woman was leaning against the wall in front of them, in position to see the screen he couldn't.

"So, what's up?" The bald man asked.

"They've called the police, as I thought", the guy on the laptop smiled. "I knew they'd need a show before taking us seriously."

"Speaking about it, the idea of the camera was a good one", the woman congratulated. "It was well done, Mouri Kogoro himself didn't think about it!"

"Indeed", the bald replied. "I'm sure he won't appreciate what this neglicence will cost him."

He throwed Conan near the dark-haired man. He seemed quite happy at the idea of outsmarting a detective. The child wasn't so overconfident. He didn't land softly, as he could use his limbs, and let out a muffled groaning of pain which seemed to please these people.

Of course, he had figured out his kidnappers had asked Kogoro not to call the police, and that he didn't listen, being a former cop and having good relations with them. This would probably cost Conan more than Kogoro. It has to begin when he woke up...

The dark-haired man took his cell phone out and pointed out their captive to the bald man, who took a gun out of his jacket – pity those were so easy to get for criminals – and approached Conan. The boy tried to free himself again, but of course, didn't succeed. He didn't have enough time. But even knowing his probability of success were incredibly low, he couldn't help but try, especially since what was coming would be painful for him for sure. Human instinct, probably.

"Oh, you're scared, kid? Don't worry, we're not gonna kill you!" The bald man laughed.

"Let's say it's a way to pay you back what you did at the agency", the woman added.

From her tone, Conan understood it had hurt her pride. From her outline, she was probably the one he used the watch on. The dark-haired man was more well-build, and a bit podgy, so he was probably the one knocked out by his soccer ball. So, the bald man was the one who prevented Conan from calling the police.

"Edel... I mean Shiro, how do you intend to communicate with detective Mouri? Do you have his phone number?"

"So he could have mine? No, thanks", Shiro, the dark-haired one, replied. "Plus, I have a phone I could use for that but it's not very convenient. And I don't have his number."

"What a pity", the bald complained ironically.

"Come on, the brat should know!" The woman pointed out while nodding towards Conan.

"Indeed..."

"It's okay, we don't need it", Shiro said. "For what I have in mind, it's really not the best way to communicate with him."

He seemed to have something quite precise in mind. Conan was still wondering what he intended to do. He had an idea of what was likely to happen, but he really didn't like it. Sadly, it was the most probable.

The woman wasn't satisfied with that. She got away from the wall and approached their hostage.

"Midori, what are you doing?"

Conan couldn't help but notice they seemed to talk to each other using colors as codenames. Shiro was "white" in Japanese, and midori "green". Moreover, the bald man had called the dark-haired one Edel-something, but hadn't finished. It was probably his real name he was about to use accidentally, not being used to the codenames they made up for concealing their identities. Maybe so Conan couldn't disclose them by chance. But Edel wasn't the beginning of a Japanese name. It was probably a foreign name. Shiro has indeed european features, and was a bit tanned. All these informations were twitching something in Conan's mind, but he couldn't remember what. Something from the past days...

He was cut in his thoughts by the woman who stopped near him and asked him :

"So, do you know his phone number by heart?"

Who knew? Conan was more interested by the chance of being able to speak than to help them. Well, all of this was at least making it pretty clear that from the beginning, they had the goal to kidnap him.

Loosing her composure, Midori kicked him in the stomach, along with an imperious order.

"Yes or no?"

"Don't damage him too much, we need him", Shiro said, amused.

The young detective was curled because of the pain, and had to wait a bit before trying to sit up again. She probably didn't kick with all her strengh but it still hurt! But he was lucky, she was too busy answering to the dark-haired man to bother about his lack of response.

"Forget it" the bald ordered. "Shiro said it didn't matter."

"Because you have Mouri Kogoro's email adress, maybe?" The woman mocked.

"Yes!" Shiro answered.

Midori gave him a funny look.

"Why didn't you tell us before? How did you get it?"

Conan was wondering the same. As Shiro didn't seem to want to answer, she turned to the other man.

"Kuro, can you explain?"

Kuro. Black. For a slight moment, Conan thought about the Black Organisation. But it has nothing to do with them, judging by their methods. Plus, here, their codenames were colors, not alcohols.

Kuro didn't turn out to be more talkative than Shiro. Angry, the woman turned to get back to her initial position, kicking Conan when she walked past him, but he couldn't tell if she did it on purpose or not. The kick was less strong than the first one and hit him on the forehead. The detective stayed still a bit, like if he was trying to make the others forget his presence, before trying to see the screen. He suddenly coughed and tried to stop, but it was a bit too late to avoid being noisy. His gag didn't allow him to cough out loud anyway. Despite this, no one was paying him attention.

What was Shiro doing on this computer since he was brought in?

"Can you tell me what you are doing behind your screen?" Kuro asked, obviously thinking the same.

"Just making sure the camera were no longer useful, at least for now. It was smart to call the police from someone else's home. Maybe they won't notice the camera and get back to the agency, but I doubt it. Mouri Kogoro will probably understand about it, I saw him check his phone for a listening device."

"Is it a problem?" Midori asked.

"I hope not", Shiro muttered.

"What do you mean?"

He didn't answered. He stretched out without moving from behind the screen and took back the cell phone he put next to him.

"So, shall we get started?"

* * *

 _ **Not really important, but again, you might have noticed if you know the original version that there are some minor changes in this chapter too.**_

 _ **Well, see you! ;)**_

Translation done : 18-09-2017 (French date)


	4. Chapter 4 : Message

Hey!  
Well, if I can keep up this pace of update, it'd be great, but I don't think so ^^' Moreover, I should study instead of translating this, my bad =P But I don't have English lessons this year so it compensate I guess.  
I hope the chapters aren't too short. The first ones are around 3 pages, and I'm pretty happy about it, it's shorter to translate =P It should last a bit, but chapters will get longer later on, so it won't help. But it's not the case yet!  
I've also corrected some mistakes in the previous chapters. Thanks again to all the people who fav, follow and let reviews!  
Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 4 : Message**

* * *

"It seems Mouri-tantei has some trouble reading. Do not worry, I think I have a good way to help him with that..."

Eri was too surprised to answer anything but "Excuse-me?"

Next to her, Satô put on the speaker so everyone could hear. Megure keibu gestured to tell her to make the call last as long as she could.

"You better check detective Mouri's cell phone, he'll soon receive a very interesting email, but it would probably be more confortable to read with a computer."

And the line went dead.

"Shit!" One of the policemen cursed. "I couldn't locate him."

"It doesn't really matter, with such a short call. But maybe you caught useful sounds", Kogoro said.

"I didn't, the recording device wasn't ready."

"Seriously?" Megure grumbled. "What are you, a newbie? Never mind! Kisaki-san what did they say?"

"Why are you asking? The speaker was on", Ran asked, surprised.

"They missed the very beginning", her mother explained. "They began with a threat, and you heard what came next. They'll contact us using Kogoro's phone. I guess they will sent us their demand along with a proof Conan-kun is with them."

She didn't add anything but her tone implied the said proof would probably also show it wasn't a joke.

"So, I guess you have a computer here, Kisaki-san?" Megure asked.

"Yes, here. I'll switch it on right now."

"Do you have what you need to connect your phone to it Mouri-kun?" Megure wondered.

"We don't need such things, keibu! You can just... Shit, it's almost out of battery." Kogoro noticed as he was about to show something on his phone to Megure. "I'm going back home to grab my charger, I'll try to be fast! I'll probably receive their message before I get back here."

"Yours isn't compatible, mom?" Ran asked.

"No, my charger is different. As they seem to want to communicate with his phone, it's better to be sure it has enough power not to miss anything from them. We have to be able to react quickly."

"Then hurry up, we'll wait here" Shiratori said.

The sleuth nodded and left while Eri was switching on her laptop.

"But... Why?" Satô mused. "Why are they asking us to use a computer if they want to send something on his phone? If they're sending a picture, we could notice more details with a computer."

"Indeed." Takagi agreed. "Maybe it's because they wrote a lot and think it'd be easier to read on a computer? Or they are the ones using a computer to write the message because it's more comfortable. Maybe it's about anonymity?"

"I don't think so, you can let traces behind you with both a phone and a computer. Maybe they know better how to cover them with one than the other?" Shiratori suggested.

"Ah?" Megure seemed not tu understand everything. "Well, all we have to do now is wait."

"Should we stay?" The technician in charge of the listening device asked.

"No, I don't think they'll call us again, they know we're here. Just let your material here so we can still record if they do, but you don't need to stay here."

Ran went to sit next to her mother on the couch, watching the laptop turning itself on. She just stayed here, to her left, silent, until she was about to talk. She hesitated a bit before finally speaking.

"How do you think the kidnappers knew we had called the police?"

"That's an excellent question!" Takagi exclaimed. He was just behind the couch, in a good position to hear her, and made both woman jump in surprise. "Keibu! We need to figure out how they understood Mouri-san had called us!"

"I totally forgot about that! Ran-kun, Kisaki-san, you said no one followed you, nor seemed to be around your house or the agency?"

"I didn't see anyone," Ran confirmed. Eri nodded too.

"When did you talk about calling the police for the first time?" Satô asked to Ran.

"Well, it was at the agency, just after dad woke me up and told me what happened. He said he has a plan so the abductors wouldn't notice."

"Did you mention Kisaki-san?"

"Yes, because dad was still a bit drunk and angry, so he said something like "that stupid but famous lawyer known as Kisaki Eri", or something like that."

Eri's eyes widenned in understanding.

"They've installed listening devices! That's how they knew Ran and Kogoro went here! But how did they get my number and Kogoro's email? Did you say it out loud, Ran?"

"I don't think so..."

"Anyway", Shiratori cut, "we have to go to the agency! They probably let clues behind them, even if they probably erased their prints on the listening devices."

"Indeed. Should we come too?" Eri wondered.

"No, I'll ask our technicians. We'd disturb them, may damage clues, and it wouldn't be calm enough to think about all this. You still don't have any idea of why they kidnapped Conan-kun?" Megure answered.

"They were probably targeting Conan-kun from the beginning, or they wouldn't have installed listening device nor prepared a printed note." Satô began. "Since they wrote "the boy", they were probably not interested in abducting Ran-chan, which is strange if they want to use Conan-kun to ask something from Mouri-san. Wouldn't you rather kidnap his daughter if you could in this situation?"

"What about the shoes?" Takagi reminded them. "What's the point of doing that?"

"Maybe he tried hastily to put them on when he noticed the intruders?" Ran suggested.

"Maybe." Shiratori said. "We know it's not a burglary, but their intentions are still unclear. As you said Satô-san, why did they target Conan-kun rather than Ran-san? What's their motive?"

"Probably money, isn't it?" Ran asked. "Kidnappers usually ask for ransom."

"They're stupid if it's true," Eri said. "Private eyes aren't wealthy, and their income isn't regular most of the time. You know that, you live with him. I think they'll rather ask for him to stop working, or maybe ask for an investigation for free."

"Yes, it makes sense..." Megure mused.

They stayed in the living room, talking about the case or just waiting for Kogoro to get back. The lawyer offered everyone a drink, and most of them choose coffee. The situation needed all their attention and it was getting really late. Or really early, as it was probably already past midnight.

Ran approached her mother, looking nervous.

"Do you think Conan-kun will be alright?"

Eri seemed surprised but offered her a reassuring smile, trying to comfort her. She obviously needed it.

"I hope so. His kidnappers needs him alive, and he's resourceful, he'll probably be fine."

Despite what she said, she couldn't help but think about the threat in the abductor's voice from the call.

Kogoro finally got back after what felt like a really long time. He seemed furious, and maybe something else but mainly that.

They gathered around him and Ran stepped forward.

"Dad! What's going on? Did you heard from the kidnappers?"

Everyone else seemed to wonder the same thing. They were all on their feet and attentive, even if Takagi almost fell asleep while waiting.

"Yes, and I have the charger, but... Ran, do you mind waiting in another room?"

Despite his anger, he seemed worried, mostly about Ran's reaction but not only. It was obvious to the teen that the message he received from the kidnappers was the reason for his reaction, and he probably had bad news about Conan. Not knowing what was going on was making Ran think horrible stuff and she stubbornly stood in front of her father.

"I won't let you hide me informations about this case, especially if it's about Conan-kun! What happened? Tell me!"

"They're bastards," Kogoro muttered while going on Eri's laptop.

No one dared to stop him but, as he sitted in front of the screen, the lawyer asked :

"So, what did they say?"

"They gave me the link of a video on the internet which will "tell us everything", they said. They'll give us instructions, and..."

"And what?" Ran asked, both serious and worried.

"They talked about a "show" to make us obey."

The room went silent. There was worry, but mainly seriousness and will. Determination.

"Let's see." Megure said.

"This idea of using a website isn't bad," Shiratori mused. "You can control a lot of things on these, including the video and sound quality. It's hard to track a member of those websites too. Pretty clever."

No one was paying much attention. They were all gathered so everyone could see the screen, some sitting on the couch, the others behind it.

Kogoro entered the adress, and found a member's profile. The name was Shiro, and his informations probably all false, but it wasn't what got their interest.

There was only one video on this profile. The video's name was today's date along with random characters. One last time, Kogoro glanced at Ran, but just meeting her eyes was enough to know she wouldn't move. She was determined.

He clicked on the video.

* * *

 _ **I hope there wasn't too many mistakes. Again, don't hesitate to point them out if you see one.**_

27-09-2017 (French date)


	5. Chapter 5 : The kidnappers' aim

Hi!

Ok, I wasn't much longer than last time to update, so even if I'm not really fast, I guess I'm not so bad. Again, tell me if you see any mistake, and thanks for the favs, follows and reviews, I don't always respond but they're much apprecited!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 5 : The kidnappers' aim**

* * *

They had to wait several seconds before the video began. They were all tense. Ran was especially worried about this "show" his dad talked about. He probably didn't want her to see Conan get hurt but Ran prefered to see things by herself.

A picture appeared.

There were two people in a room. The first was an adult, probably a man judging by his stature. He had a gun, his face hidden so they could only see his eyes, and was in a kind of crounching or kneeling position. He was firmly holding the other person with a hand on his shoulder, and of course, it was Conan, tied up and gagged, sitting next to the man. There were sounds which seemed to come from behind the camera, and it was moving a bit, so someone was probably holding it. Judging by the quality, it could be filmed with a phone, maybe a smartphone.

A voice got out of the laptop's speaker. It wasn't very clear because of the piece of clothe covering his face, but it was a man's, obviously the one they could see even if they could barely see his lips moving. No threat in his voice, yet. Only the absolute self-confidence of someone who think he hold all the cards. Almost arrogant.

"Hello Mouri tantei, and dear policemen too as you're here as well."

A disapproving grunt came from behind the camera, probably made by someone close to it. The voice seemed feminine but it was hard to say with only that. The man didn't react to it and keep talking :

"I was saying that we have to review the rules for all of this to go well, shall we?"

Threat was coming in his voice. Like a warning.

"Let me explain this again : if you don't obey, this kid will pay for it."

As he said that, he pointed the gun toward Conan, who seemed to look for something to do, probably to escape what was going to happen, and suddenly put all his attention on the weapon directed at him. The hand on his shoulder seemed to hold him more tighly than before, making him wince.

Without noticing what they were doing, most policemen bended over the couch to have a better view of the screen. Their serious expression was melted with the anger of their powerlessness to prevent whatever was going to happen.

"I guess you all know that, as Mouri tantei didn't listen, I have to punish him."

With no longer discussion, he pulled the trigger, the gunshot deadened by a silencer. Conan was shot in the shoulder and fell on his back because of the impact. A small shout came from Ran, but no one paid attention.

The criminal put the boy back in a sitting position, purposely holding him by his injured shoulder to do so. It was getting red around the wound, but Conan could do nothing to get rid of the man's grip on him. His eyes were almost closed and he seemed to be struggling against the pain his captor was causing. Someone among the watchers cursed.

"It will be enough for this time,", the man added. "But I hope, for his sake, that you'll be more obedient in the future."

Then, he pushed Conan violently to the ground, a hand still on his injury, pinning him to the ground, while he was pointing his other shoulder with the gun. His voice became more serious.

"Now, listen carefully. I can do much more to this kid, including wounds a bit more serious than this one. Ones he couldn't recover fully from. If you don't want this to happen, do exactly what I say. To the police, if you want to help the detective Mouri, it would ensure this kid's safety, or endanger it if you ever try to find us. Understood?"

He said nothing about the cameras and listening devices at the agency. After all, he knew there were probably already on it, and they were policemen, of course they'd try to get as much informations from available clues like this as they could. But he has been careful about these.

"Here's the condition to see this kid again. You..."

* * *

The sun was brightening the inside of Mouri Kogoro's detective agency when the said detective woke up. He didn't really have a good sleep, nor did he slept long enough. He had shadows under his eys, but was aware and awake.

Ran didn't sleep well either. She couldn't sleep for most of the night and finally fell in Morpheus' arms at dawn. She was still sleeping. It has been hard for his father to convince her to go to bed. The criminals had allowed him to sleep, as his investigation would be slowed down by the time – most people being asleep and shops and societies closed at this hour – and also because it would make him more efficient than if he had a sleepless night. Well, he didn't sleep much, but it would be enough. He also had some trouble going to bed. He tried to grab some informations on the internet and tried to wake up one person or two before giving up. He had time, and people weren't keen on waking up in the middle of the night, especially for something that he had to make looks like a normal investigation.

But he would complete this investigation, and do all he could to capture these bastards. There was no way he'd let those people escape after hurting deliberately the boy who was under his guard. Sure, the brat had a talent to put himself in such situations, but for once it was more of Kogoro's fault, especially for his bullet wound, and he felt responsible.

At least he was given clear instructions. He had to investigate Akizumi Tôchi, employee of a big society, and who was misappropriating money and doing some illegal traffic of weapons. If he could prove his illegal actions, send him to jail, and give the money he had earned with this to the kidnappers as a ransom, they'd free Conan.

But when he left this morning, even if he knew he could count on the police's help, he couldn't repress a bad feeling. Knowing Conan's talent for trouble, he hoped the brat was fine despite the situation, and that he didn't try anything stupid.

* * *

He was right to wonder. The night had been quite difficult for Conan, who barely slept. It's pretty hard to sleep when you have such a serious injury and no painkiller. Being tied up and on a hard ground rather than a tatami didn't help too.

His captors slept one after another so there was always one awake, but they had locked him in the next room again. He could tell by the noises he could hear. At least they had bandaged Conan's wound before putting him here, as they still needed him.

Once he was alone, the detective had tried to free himself, but the pain was getting in the way, and he ended up attracting the woman's attention. She went to see him, obviously angry, and kicked him, sending him flying through the room, almost knocking him off. That was the only moment he almost rest.

The next day, he overheard a conversation by pressing his ear on the wall separating him from his abductors. A conversation that definitely wasn't good news for him.

"So, what now?" Midori wondered.

"We wait", Shiro answered. "It's the famous Mouri tantei, we'll probably have finished this before tonight!"

"What about the kid? Shall we kill him now?"

Conan froze.

"No, it would be too dangerous. We better keep him alive until we have the money, we'll kill him after that."

They were both speaking with a rather cold, expressionless voice. To Conan's surprise, the bald one, Kuro, seemed to be the only one who wasn't found of the idea.

"Do we really have to kill him? I mean, the police will never give up on us after that."

"No problem. They'll investigate even if we give the kid back, so... And he saw our faces, it's too risky."

The child didn't bother to listen any longer : he had to escape, and quickly! But there was nothing to help, the only things here were the paintings and drawing, too high to be of any help. So how?

He suddenly remembered his badge, still in one of his pocket. Probably, no one thought about it among Ran, Kogoro and the policemen. Well, it wasn't that surprising, some of them knew but they didn't use it to find him very often.

Conan immediately tried to grab his badge, as he just felt it in one of his front pocket. Sadly it wasn't the easier place to reach seeing how he was tied up, and his injury didn't help. It was making him wince at each movement, as of course, moving an arm would make the other move too, as his wrists were tied up together. But he didn't have much of a choice.

* * *

Kogoro was gone for several hours when Ran finally woke up, feeling like she hadn't slept at all. At first she just acted like any other day until memories flooded her mind, and she rushed out of her bed. How could she sleep in such a situation? Well, sure, Conan probably wouldn't mind, but what if something had happened while she slept? She knew she was pretty much useless, and no one would blame her for sleeping, but still, she felt guilty.

Ran was still worrying about the one she sees as a brother while she was going downstairs to ask her father if they had any news, but he wasn't there.

"Dad, where are you?" She called for a bit before understanding he was gone.

She began grumbling that he could have waited for her, when she noticed a piece of paper on his office, with her father's handwriting

"I began my investigation. Don't worry, I'm handling this."

The teenager kept an uncertain look on the message. Did he say that only to reassure her? But he was the famous detective Mouri Kogoro after all. Unsure, she thought about calling him but was stopped by knocks on the door.

"If it's for a case, we're closed!" Ran yelled, feeling unwanted tears coming up to her eyes.

"No, we came to see Conan!"

Ran froze.

Not willing to wait any longer, her visitors opened the door and stepped in.

She already knew by the voice it was the Shounen Tantei-dan. Of course, they probably wanted to go play soccer somewhere with their friend. The teen didn't know how to react. She was stressed because she didn't have any news on Conan's disappearance, but she didn't want to worry them. She locked her doubts away and smiled to her three visitors.

Ai wasn't with them.

"I'm sorry but Conan-kun's not here."

"Oh," Ayumi said with a disappointed voice.

"We can look for him!" Mitsuhiko offered. "Where is he?"

"Actually, we... don't know", Ran replied in plain honesty.

She didn't want to tell them the whole truth so they didn't worry, but it came out before she could thing of a better answer. Luckily, another visitor came in.

"Ah, Ran!" Eri began. "Am I disturbing anything?"

The DB turned to see the lawyer while her daughter was sending her a "SOS" glare.

"Aren't you Ran-neechan's mother?"

The woman nodded and joined the teen.

"Can you leave us alone, please?"

But the kids had understood something fishy was going on. They were frowning.

"What's happening? Is Conan-kun in trouble?"

"No, he's... fine." Ran muttered, trying to seem sure but failing a bit in the end.

"Out, now, all of you!"

Eri was far better at getting, or rather almost kicking them out. Once the door was closed again, she turned to her daughter.

"Are you all right?"

The answer was obvious, written on Ran's face : clearly not. She was sad and worried, and Eri hugged her.

"Don't worry. Your father won't try anything reckless again, and the criminals need Conan-kun to have what they asked."

Which meant they really better have him back soon after his kidnappers got their ransom, they both knew it.

* * *

 _Translation finished on 12-10-2017 (French date)_


	6. Chapter 6 : An opening?

Hi!

As I said, I'm busy with the university and my other fic, so it takes more time to translate, but don't worry, I think about it! Actually I'm pretty steady on updates, if I compare with other fanfictions I've wrote!

As usual, I'll try not to be too long to post the next chapter, but no promise! Especially since I may not have the time to continue this translation at all on November, as I'm doing the NaNoWriMo. I'll see.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 6 : An opening ?**

* * *

It took him about half an hour to grab his badge. Half an hour quite painful for his shoulder, which was a bit red, but he had a firm hold on his badge. He knew it well enough to be able to use it without seeing it.

The problem was how to communicate. He was still gagged after all ! Maybe there was neighbours, it would explain why they shoot with a silencer. Still, it wasn't helping.

He soon thought of a solution.

* * *

Ai was reading model magasines when she heard the ring tone of the badge. It took her several seconds to notice and sigh before answering.

"Yes?"

But no voice replied, only small sounds, and then "knock" sounds, short or long. She frowned. It was Morse code, and she could see only one person do that among the DB.

"Edogawa-kun?"

She stopped to hear the answer.

" _Yes._ "

She stayed still for a moment. What exactly was he going? Why was he talking like this? It was neither convenient nor fast. But still faster than her to react as Conan added :

" _Talk_ _more quietly_ _._ "

She better get out of the shop then. The shrunken scientist went to a nearby park, in a desert area, and asked with a lower voice :

"What's happening?"

" _You still have the spare glasses?_ "

"Sure."

She let him enough time to explain.

" _Give them to Uncle and Ran, show them how it works. They need it to find me._ "

"What have you gotten into this time?" Ai wondered with a smile.

There was a break before Conan answered. There was other sounds but they didn't seem to be coming from near the detective so she didn't pay attention.

" _Trouble_ _, so if you could hurry please._ "

"What kind of trouble?" The girl wondered. The interference seemed to become stronger. "Where are you? Are you in danger?"

" _Kogoro will tell you._ "

"No, you explain", Ai ordered.

There was several seconds of silence, a muffled "ouch", and finally :

" _I've been abducted. They'll kill me as soon as they'll have what they asked._ "

The false child's expression suddenly changed.

"Are you hurt?"

" _Kogoro and the police will tell you. I can't talk anymore. I'm counting on you._ "

Each time he talked, he cut the message to be faster, so it was rather "Kogoro and police will tell. Can't talk more. Tamonu ("I'm counting on you" in Japanese)."

Her smile came back. Getting in danger was pretty much in his habits, but usually not like this.

"Don't worry tantei-san, I got it."

She hung up at the very moment a door opened where Conan was. She could have waited a bit to hear what was happening, but it was too risky, there were a lot of sounds on her side that could have betrayed the badge's presence, which clearly wouldn't be a good thing. Of course, you couldn't tell someone's feelings without the voice, but she still had the feeling something already happened. She hurried toward Agasa's to find the glasses so she could join Kogoro and Ran, probably with Agasa if she met with him.

* * *

The door of the room where Conan was opened as he was cuting his conversation with Ai. He barely had the time to hide his badge in one of his back pocket, paying no attention to the pain in his shoulder, when Kuro stepped in. He seemed to look for something and looked displeased. He walked on his hostage, looking serious. This wasn't good. The sleuth had the bad feeling he may have heard him speak with Ai. She didn't spoke loudly, except a bit at the beginning, but even at that time he shouldn't have been able to hear anything through the wall.

The abductor moved him with his foot, watching carefully, and the child knew he was right : he heard something. He suddenly noticed the earpiece in Kuro's ear and slapped himself mentally. Of course they might have installed a listening device here too! The idea didn't occur to him but it was very likely.

The man noticed there was something in Conan's back pocket. He kneeled and reached for it. Conan did nothing to stop him, because at this point there was nothing he could do, and trying to prevent him would only drag more his attention onto it. Even if he grabbed the badge first, it could easily been taken from his hands, the hard way or not.

"Hm... Interesting."

The man conscientiously crushed the badge on the ground with his feet and, without any warning, grabbed one of Conan's hand and twisted it in a way the joint was definitely not made for. Conan shuddered and let out a muffled scream of pain.

"Next time you try something like this, I won't be so merciful", Kuro warned.

He stood up and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him hit the wall behind him before leaving.

Conan was panting, and it took him a moment before recovering enough to focus on thinking again.

The meaning of this was quite obvious. The sounds could pass the wall, but not very well. He had been able to grasp a conversation before only because he put his ear on the wall separating him from his captors, so they couldn't hear what he was doing while he was alone. It made sense they were watching him, or rather, listening him, to make sure he didn't try anything. Still, he didn't undersand why they were keeping him in another room, but it wasn't his priority right now.

Anyway, if this was Kuro's definition of being merciful, he didn't want to find out what he'd do in a less forgiving mood. The sharp pain of when he had twisted his wrist was gone but a throbbing pain remained. Also, being thrown against the wall had awoken the pain of his other injuries, especially the one to his shoulder. He just hoped he didn't have any strain.

 _Damn!_

* * *

"Really?! Are you sure?"

"Of course, Kudo-kun himself told me!"

"Sure, but, you didn't hear his voice, right?"

Ai froze. She finally found the spare glasses, and smiled.

"Really, do you think the DB would do a prank like this? They don't even know Morse code, and wouldn't use it so well even if they had it under their nose. And Edogawa-kun is even less likely to do any joke like that."

Agasa nodded. He was asking this more out of confusion and worries than real doubt of what Ai just told him.

"Now, let's give these to the police and the detective Mouri. I'm sure Ran-san is more worried about him right now than you are."

She was smiling, but not to mock the teenager's reaction. Moreover, despite her smile, Ai was worried as well, especially since she knew Conan didn't tell her everything.

* * *

As Ai foresaw, when Agasa explained to some and reminded to other about the spare glasses, Ran seemed a bit reassured, and several faces lightened.

"I remember! Those kids used it in a case to find Conan-kun", Megure said. "It's perfect then, we will be able to take them by surprise, before they can use him as a hostage."

"Are you sure they're not listening us anymore, or don't have any way to know we're coming toward them?"

"Don't worry, we cleared all the Agency of the listening devices, and everything they might have bugged." Satô assured. "They may have video cameras around their hiding place, but we can handle the problem once we spot them, if they have any!"

Megure nodded and asked everyone to get ready. Finding where the criminals and Conan were was a good start, but arresting everyone without letting anyone escape or use Conan as a hostage would still be a delicate and dangerous situation, but nothing they didn't know how to handle.

"By the way, are you finished with the investigation the kidnappers had given you?" Megure asked to Kogoro.

"Not yet, but almost. This Akizumi Tôchi think he's careful, but he didn't think a private eyes would look into this."

"Then, try to complete this case. I don't think the criminals have a way to watch if you're investigating or not but we can't let you participate and it could be useful if things went wrong."

Kogoro tried to argue a bit, but quickly agreed with the inspector. Better safe than sorry after all.

"I'll go with them, I should be able to keep in touch with you about what's happening", Ran promised.

"Fine, but I want to know how you intend to do this first."

"Ok, so here's the plan..."

* * *

 _Translation done and chapter posted on 22-10-2017 (French date)_


	7. Chapter 7 : Rescue mission

Hello!

Sorry for the wait! Told you I probably wouldn't have time to update in november, and I'll probably be busy too in december and january, with tests, holidays, celebrations and exams! But I'll do my best to update the next chapter soon, maybe one more before the new year!

I don't mention it anymore now but there's still some minor changes sometimes in the story if you compare to the French version. Dunno why I keep saying this but never mind!

Also, small spoiler on the fanfiction : someone asked about Heiji's implication in the fic. If you don't care or want to discover by yourself, don't read the next sentences : I'm sorry to disappoint you but he's not gonna appear at all. I know he often kicks his way in when Conan's in trouble in fanfictions, but not in this one!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 7 : Rescue mission**

* * *

He had informed Ai about his current situation, and couldn't do much more now his badge was destroyed, so Conan decided to look for the listening device. If the police got there, the criminals would try to keep them away by using him as a hostage. If he could escape before, it would be easier for the police. But escaping would be much harder if his captors were spying on him, so he had to start with that.

But where was it hidden? The paints were too high to receive sounds very well. He couldn't see anything like a listening device, so it would be behind the paints, but it really wasn't the best place to keep an eye, or ear, to a gagged kid on the ground.

Conan glared at the floor and began to give knocks to it with his non injured hand. The room wasn't that big and if they had been smart, they didn't install the listening device in a corner. Maybe in the center of the room? He stopped and got there as he could, and resumed knocking the floor. He knew his captor would be soon pissed off if he kept doing that for too long, or worse, may understand why he was doing it, but he didn't have much of a choice. He had to hurry.

Luck was back on his side as he almost immediately found an area where the knocking sounds were different, but his luck left as fast as it came as Kuro burst into the room, looking angry.

"Damnit, brat! Can't you stay still for more than 5 minutes?"

"What's up?" Midori asked.

"That kid's too noisy!"

The child frowned. It was all the confirmation he needed. Kuro shouldn't have been able to hear such small sounds from the other room, even if he was close to the wall or door, and Midori, with her personality, would have got pissed off first. But the bald man was the only one with an earpiece.

The woman entered the room after her accomplice and stood against the wall with a haughty smile while Kuro was approaching him. Conan stiffened. His fingers were desperately trying to find the opening for the bug's hidden place. He finally found it as the bald man arrived before him. Kuro immediately understood what just happened but before he could react, the child had removed and destroyed the listening device.

"You brat!"

Midori blinked as she watched Kuro kick Conan out of the way, revealing the pieces of the broken device. She suddenly grasped what just happened and yelled in the other room :

"Shiro, come there! He found it!"

Kuro bent to have a better look, but it was definitely out of use. The look he gave Conan after realising it told the small sleuth it may have been smarter of him to be more subtil and patient, for his own well being and safety.

"What's going on?" Shiro asked as he walked in.

He didn't need anyone to explain as his eyes fell almost immediately on the fragments Kuro was studying only a few seconds before. His face turned red and he began to walk toward Conan while grabbing his gun.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Kuro said when he saw the look on his face.

"I'm gonna kill him. Do you have any idea of how expensive and hard to find are these?!"

"Take it easy, this one wasn't that expensive, right? Plus, with the money detective Mouri will give us, it wont be a problem at all!"

Shiro frowned, his attention turning to the other man.

"Why do you take his defense? He's a kid."

"He's the key to our money you mean! They'll probably ask for a proof he's still alive before we can ever have a chance to take the money. Also, I'm sure they'd investigate a lot more if they weren't afraid of what we might do to him."

"Phew! I'm sure they do investigate anyway!"

Kuro got up, thinking his partner had calmed down, but Shiro suddenly straightened his arm and fired, making his accomplices jump in surprise.

"Holy crap, what did I just say?!" Kuro yelled, as the path of the bullet had go way too near him to his liking.

"What? He's still alive!"

"I didn't mean this! I don't trust your shooting abilities, and I was on the way!"

Shiro only answered with a mocking smile before leaving. While he was walking toward the door, he added, speaking over his shoulder :

"Now, make sure he don't have more chances at escaping than when we could listen to him!"

Kuro restrained his urge to argue back, and turned agressively to Midori :

"What are you still doing here, you?"

"Hey, don't be mad at me!" Midori answered, no more patient than him. "It happened during your watch, so it's your fault! I'm not responsible for your lack of attention!"

On these kind words, she got away, slamming the door on her way. Kuro took the earpiece off his ear and turned toward the one responsible for this situation.

Conan has been shot around the ribs. Luckily, the bullet didn't enter his lungs or he would only have about 15 minutes left to live, but it still hurt, especially with his breathing movements. It was more than just a scratch. Again.

"You're a smart brat, aren't you?" The bald man said. "You knew about the listening device because of Midori's behavior last night. But don't worry, we'll still know if you ever try to escape. I don't really see how you could do anyway!"

He didn't add any more punishment to the one he already had and simply got out too, locking the door behind him. Conan sat up carefully and watched the door, musing.

If they were so afraid he might escape while they weren't watching him, then why didn't they keep him with them, in the other room where there seemed to be always at least one person. No, they prefered to let him here. Why? What were they doing over there? What could they do that they absolutely didn't want him to see? They were planning on killing him after all, so why bother so much to hide anything from him? Because he might give something away on the few chances he had?

Well, true, he spoke with Ai, they may fear something like that to happen again, but they were so much careful even before that, so they really had to hide something they really didn't want him to see or know. But what could it be? Was their plan more complicated than what it looked?

* * *

"Er... Ai-chan, can you come here please?"

Agasa was busy with the policemen in the car driving them from the agency to where they were supposed to leave detective Mouri. Ai was the only one who wasn't speaking to someone, and she knew very well about these gadgets, so with the professor she was the better choice to answer Ran's questions.

"What is it?"

"How do you turn on the fonction on the glasses to see there Conan-kun is? I can't find the right button."

"It's this one, here", Ai showed her.

She pressed said button, but the glasses' lens stayed desperately empty.

"This isn't normal, right?" Ran asked.

"Indeed", Ai answered. "They probably found and destroyed the badge. I heard someone enter where Edogawa-kun is when we finished our conversation, I found it odd."

"What?!" Inspector Sato exclaimed.

"But then..." Ran began.

"We can't find out where Conan-kun is anymore?" Takagi finished.

* * *

Silence was back in the room where the shrunken sleuth was held captive. He cast an observative glance at the wall behind which were his kidnappers, and began his attempts to put his hands before him rather than letting them in his back. It was painful, but he couldn't think of another idea to get out of here quickly. He couldn't cut the ropes, breaking a painting to use a shard of glass would be too noisy, even without thinking about the fact that they were too high for him to reach, and the device's fragments were too small, he'd only hurt his fingers. But the first step was to untie himself anyway, so...

After a moment, Conan finally managed to get his hands before him quite in silence, but his shoulder hurt a lot, and seemed to bleed again. The faster he got free, the better. He removed as quietly as he could the duct tape gagging him and attacked the rope with his teeth. Once his wrists weren't restrained anymore, the rope on his ankles didn't last long either. Conan got up in silence, carefully because of his injuries. Finally, freed of the ropes! Well, his shoulder hurt a lot again, his breathing was painful, and his wrist still hurt, but he could move freely, and that was such a good feeling and a good step at escaping! Now, he had to find out how to get out of this room without getting noticed by his captors. If only this room was on the ground floor...

He walked on tip-toe to the window. He had to jump to reach it but could hold the edge with only one hand. He used the arm of his injured shoulder to unlock and open the window, hoping his captors didn't hear him. In his current situation, even if he tried to be quiet, he had some trouble to do precise movements.

He managed to climb on the edge of the window, which was pretty large, to his confort. It was hard enough to climb here with his injuries! He winced to contain his pain and stop himself from giving away too much sounds of pain, and finally sitted on the window's edge, feeling the breeze on his face. It felt so nice!

Conan stayed still for a few seconds, checking the sounds from the next room, but it seemed they didn't notice what he was doing.

So, if they didn't notice... He turned his gaze to the view he had from the window, before him, and sighed in relief. He was probably in an apartment block, and only at the first floor. It wasn't the best, but it could have been worst! It would have been too dangerous for him to try to get down from a higher floor.

There didn't seem to be a lot of people in this place. In fact, the parking lot was almost empty, except for one car. There was obviously no one else here, and the building he was in, along with the surroundig ones, seemed to be old. Which meant his kidnappers were really paranoiacs, for gagging him despite that. Or it was just to make sure he wouldn't yell and disturb them, but he didn't buy it.

Conan approached the edge to the outside and noticed the rectangular and brown marks under him. Where was probably window boxes here, which were removed because of him.

The child looked the frontage to see if he could try to climb down from here. After all, even if it was only the first floor, it was better if he didn't have to jump from here!

Luckily, there were several things he could use. The decoration on top of the window below along with his edge, and a gutter near him. It wasn't going to be easy, but after what he already did, he had to try. It was the easier way to escape, way easier than going through the room were his abductors were without being seen nor caught, as he couldn't knock them out anymore...

The boy closed as he could the window behind him so his captors wouldn't look immediately by the window even if they noticed his disappearance, and began to climb down using both the gutter and the window's edges to have a better balance, as he almost couldn't use his injured shoulder. Good thing the wrist that hurt was on the same side, or it would have been a bigger handicap.

Despite his breathing and rib wound, he managed to get down thanks to his legs and uninjured arm, but the gutter soon began to show signs of weakness. It wasn't very well attached to the wall and even Conan's light weight was beginning to detach it. A look below reminded the small detective of the bushes under him, which went around the building, but he was still a bit too high to risk it. But he had to hurry.

Conan finally made it to the ground floor's window, trying to stay out of view of any possible person who might see him from it even if it seemed unlikely.

He was finally low enough to jump behind the bushes, and took a break to let his exhausted body recover from the effort he just made. He forgot he was ill, but he remembered now, seeing how weak he felt after this!

But he was outside of this damn room. Now, he had to get away from this place and find a phone to tell the police he escaped and reassure Ran, as he hadn't one with him.

It was only as he was thinking of phones that he remembered his badge was destroyed, and the police he thought was on his way was in fact probably still ignorant of where he was.

* * *

 _ **Translation finished and chapter posted on the 10-12-2017 (French date)**_


	8. Chapter 8 : Help is on the way

Hello !  
Well, this chapter and the ones to come probably aren't the best ones. I won't tell too much but I feel like there's several small kind of plotholes and other problems in it, which I can't correct as easily as other stuff I've seen. My excuse is that this fic is pretty old, this part even more !  
But I hope you'll still appreciate ! The next chapter is shorter so maybe I'll post it soon. I'm not sure, with the holidays and exams coming, but who knows !  
I don't repeat it each time, but as usual, don't hesitate to point out mistakes. I also really thanks all the people who let reviews, who fav and follow ^^

Merry Christmas in advance !

Enjoy !

* * *

 **Chapter 8 : Help is on the way**

* * *

Ai had a small smile. She could understand the teenager's reaction, but the situation wasn't what she thought.

"Don't worry, I feared something like this might happen, so I ran to the professor's and wrote down the badge's emplacement. It must have been destroyed immediately after that."

"Wh-what?"

Ai took out a map and unfolded it to show a red cross to Ran.

"So, we'll still be able to find him?" Takagi asked, relaxing.

"Yes, if they don't move until we get there." Ai answered.

"But they have no reason to do so, right?" Agasa said. "They musn't have a lot of places they could move to with a hostage."

"It's true", Satô added. "They probably don't know the badge they destroyed can give up their position anyway. They must have only noticed its talkie-walkie fonction."

Ran laid down on her seat with an only half-reassured sigh.

"Don't worry, Ran-chan!" Sato-keiji said, looking at her with the rear-view mirror. "We'll catch them before the day end!"

"I know, but I'm still worried. Conan-kun usually don't stay still in such situations. I hope he did nothing to make the kidnappers angry."

 _Well, knowing him, it's a possibility, indeed_ , thought Ai. _But we're talking about Kudo-kun, so he might also have found a way to escape now._

* * *

The door opened with a long and noisy creepy grinding noise. The shrunken sleuth jumped when he noticed the building's entrance was a few meters from him, and that he was therefore perfectly visible to any person using it. As obviously, someone was going out, the child hid as fast as he could behind the bushes he considered to jump on.

In a last metallic crack, the door finally burst open. Kuro appeared, tried to close the door for a few seconds before giving up. He walked a few steps away from the entrance and took out a cigarette pack and a lighter. As soon as Conan understood what he was doing, he relaxed. A bit.

For a couple of seconds, he had feared his escape has already been discovered, but it was obvious when Kuro took the time to try to close the door that it wasn't the case. He was only trying to take a break to smoke. But still, the child felt vulnerable. He sat carefully behind the bushes, trying to be comfortable and well hidden. He didn't dare risk to go around the building behind the bushes, Kuro was really near and could hear him. If he ever spotted him, it would be to Conan's disadvantage. There wasn't anything around the building, he'd only have his intelligence and rapidity to get away, which, in his current state and against an adult, wasn't quite the best, as his body was still really weak.

If Conan had his gadgets, he would have tried to stay around to incapacitate as much criminals as he could, but he had nothing, so he wasn't going to try anything. Better wait for the police to arrive, they should be able to catch all the kidnappers.

But the bald man was taking forever. His wounds and illness didn't help Conan to be patient, and the situation wasn't quite comfortable.

Maybe it was a kind of sixth sense, because he barely had this thought that he heard someone run outside, and saw Midori rush out, panting and pissed off. She was looking for something and someone, and seemed to find it when her eyes fell on the smoker.

"Kuro, what the hell did you do?"

The bald man let out a cloud of smoke before answering, the picture of calm against Midori's anger, even if he seemed a bit surprised.

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you think I might talk about? The brat, moron! Where is he?"

"Eh?"

Well, now Kuro was distracted and they were doing enough noise for him to try to walk behind the bushes to turn to the corner of the building. Staying here wasn't an option anymore, Kuro was informed of his disappearance and they would probably check under the window first, when they'd have stopped their argument. Luckily, the bushes were planted in a hedge around the building, which was very convenient for him. Some parts didn't have as much leaves left than others, but it was still enough for him to hide. So Conan began to walk on all fours, or rather, three because of his injured shoulder, aiming for the building's corner but still listening to his two abductors.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that the kid's not there! I went to the room we keep him in to check after you left and I didn't see him!"

Truly taken aback, he dropped his cigarette end.

"What?"

The woman stood up straight and added with a biting voice :

"Yeah, you heard me, the brat is gone! And Shiro wants to know what you did before you left him."

"Nothing that would allow him to escape."

Kuro had recovered from the astonishment and sounded really serious.

"Did you retrieve the listening device's remains?"

"Of course not, he couldn't untie himself with it.

"Maybe he could! Otherwise, how do you explain he's not there anymore?"

"He may have waited for the listening device to be destroyed to escape."

Shiro might have calmed down with this, but not Midori. She was too angry to be reasoned. The bald man interrupted her before the could continue her lecture.

"Then, let's take a look! Shiro and you were in the next room, there was no place to hide in it, so he didn't have any other escape route than the window. He must be still around."

Kuro glanced toward the bushes Conan was hiding behind minutes ago with a meaningful gaze. The small sleuth, who was almost at the corner now, shivered and hurriedly reached the corner and turned before taking a break, feeling only a bit more safe here, waiting for the result of his former captors' inspection.

He heard them approach the place he landed on, and...

"There's nothing!" Midori said.

"Look at that."

The shrunken private eye cautiously leaned to see what Kuro was showing his accomplice, but he was too far to see anything.

"Thread?"

"Yes. They're the same color than his socks. He was probably there not long ago."

The bald man stood up and looked around.

"He's surely still nearby."

"Perfect! Then find him! I'll tell Shiro."

"Can't you stay to help? We'll be more efficient if we're two, and if we take too long to find him he might truly get away."

"Maybe I'll join you after that, then," she finally agreed reluctantly.

The woman got back inside the building, followed by the man's mocking smile. Conan took the opportunity to straighten up, so Kuro couldn't spot him anymore.

The matter now was to find a place to hide until the police got there... If they could! Maybe Ai had anticipated after hearing the door open, but maybe not, maybe she didn't think about it or didn't have enough time. So, to make sure the police knew where to go, he had to find a was to get in touch with them. He had to tell them he had escaped anyway. But there wasn't much phone boxes nowadays, and he didn't see how he could call the police otherwise.

Footsteps interrupted his musing. The small sleuth stiffened : they were coming his way! No, they stopped far enough from the corner for Conan to relax a bit, but he had to move. Kuro would soon find hints that he went that way, he probably left other threads, and it would be odd for him to pass before the entrance to go away. He had to hide somewhere else, and quickly.

The child kept walking, staying behind the bushes just in case Kuro turned the corner while he was moving forward. After all, he couldn't clearly hear his footsteps now, and it wasn't getting any better as he was moving away.

He went behind a kind of annex on the side of the building and congratulated himself for reacting as soon as he heard his kidnappers had noticed his escape. He wasn't off the hook yet, but the situation wasn't too bad for now. But Kuro was probably going to get here soon, he had to get away from this building and hide in the surroundings, where he might even find a way to call the police or even people to help him.

The kid had stopped walking on all four, he had stood up and was still trying to put the building between him and Kuro so he'd have more time to run to the streets around without being seen. He was about to leave his hideout behind the bushes to reach the small wall around the building when a slam made him kneel down in reflex. He looked up and saw Shiro, head through a window, scanning the area, probably looking for him. From his vantage, Conan's hideout wasn't really one anymore, he might get spotted quickly...

Too late. The man had just noticed the child hidden behind the bushes.

"KURO!"

The false kid put on a sprint toward the surrounding streets, praying he'd have already disappeared between the houses when Kuro would show up on this side of the building.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten in his rush a crucial element. Shiro had a gun, has he had proven him earlier. A detonation suddenly filled the air as the shrunken teen felt a bullet pass near his leg. Up in the floors, someone cursed.

To Conan's left, footsteps were getting louder. Judging from what happened yesterday, Kuro had a gun too.

"Shit!"

The man suddenly entered Conan's sigh, and the wall, taller than he expected, was still a few meters ahead. The small sleuth tried to speed up, but his body was too weak for this. It was already almost a miracle he didn't stumble when he began running, as exhausted as he felt.

"Stop, brat!"

Conan glanced behind again and saw Kuro take out a gun. Well, he had one indeed, which was definitely not going to help. Kuro fired but the bullet missed his target. Conan passed over the small wall and tried to speed up as he could toward the streets around. Well, if one could call this speed up.

"Crap!"

The voice was nearer than Conan thought. He glanced again and noticed Kuro was about to pass the small wall too. At this pace, Kuro would have caught up with him before he could reach a new hideout. He saw the bald man target him again.

The detective couldn't watch Kuro and run efficiently at the same time, so he trusted his luck a bit and suddenly changed direction. Kuro shot about at the same time. It was a good thing he was such a bad marksman at least!

Conan glanced away to check how far was Kuro.

But he was in socks since he had escaped. Luck couldn't stay at his side forever.

The child walked on something sharp he hadn't noticed. Surprised, he tried not to pay attention and keep running but despite his efforts, he stumbled and his speed made him fall and roll a bit on the floor. He tried to get up immediately but accidentally used his injured shoulder, which made him meet the ground again as he winced. The footsteps were now almost on him.

Suddenly, a new sound came from far away. It was the police's siren.

* * *

 _ **Finished and posted on 22-12-2017 (French date)**_


	9. Chapter 9 : Get away

Hello !

Yeah, sorry, I didn't have time to finish the translation of this chapter during the holidays and I had my exams the week after, so... As I said, this chapter is shorter than the other, it's probably the shorter of the whole fic.

Happy New Year by the way !  
Enjoy !

* * *

 **Chapter 9 : Get away**

* * *

"What..."

Taken aback, Kuro stopped dead to turn toward where the siren came from. Despite his injuries Conan took the opportunity to silently sneak away, but his captor was more captivated by something else.

"The police?!"

Shiro had also noticed. He could hear and see better from his vantage, and he almost immediately disappeared from the window. Finally, the bald man remembered he had a hostage nearby, but when he turned to where he had last seen him, the kid was already gone and nowhere in sight.

"Wha- Holy crap, what a moron!"

Furious, he kicked the metallic piece that had hurt the boy and resumed his research hurriedly. If they didn't find him before the police got there, then it was over for them!

* * *

"Midori!"

Shiro rushed in the room where most of them have been waiting since all of this had begun. Only the woman was there, as expected. She looked up at him, astonished, and frowned.

"Yeah, what? What happened again?"

"The police is coming!"

"Wha- How?!"

"Never mind that, we have to leave immediately!"

"What about Kuro?"

"He's trying to catch the brat."

While speaking, the two accomplices took their things, erased the few fingerprints they left on the door handles and got out.

"Why?"

"Do I really need to explain? He saw our faces! And if the police comes here, having a hostage would be better!"

They hurtled down the stairs to the exit and ran toward the car on the parking lot.

"Go help Kuro", ordered the brown haired man. "I'll wait for you in the car, ready to got. If you're too long to find him, get back, better be away when the cops will arrive!"

For once, the woman didn't say anything unpleasant. She nodded and ran around the building until she saw Kuro busy searching the surroudings.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"The brat escaped while I wasn't looking. I didn't think the police would come!" He explained.

Midori was about to complain but she stopped and helped him. Shiro asked her to and they had no time. If she was angry, she might overlook something. But still! It wasn't that hard to catch a kid, right?

* * *

Conan winced when he tried to get up. He was getting more and more sore, with wounds adding to the others, and he barely had time to rest and take good care of his injuries. The sleuth silently cursed his bad luck and glanced at the criminals.

He hid in the first building he could reach. He didn't have neither the time nor the condition to risk hiding further, not with a bleeding feet and in his current state. Sure, the wound on his feet wasn't that big, but it hurts, and he was weak from the illness and the lack of sleep and food.

But here should be enough. Shiro was probably coming to pick them up and leave soon, from what he overheard when Midori joined Kuro. Still, it felt frustrating. They were so close, but Conan had to let them go. He could litteraly do nothing to catch them and would only get caught again. He had no gadget available, his watch was still here but had no dart, his belt was also soccer ball free and he was missing the most important to knock out anyone by kicking objects : his shoes.

Well, he didn't have much of a choice. At least he had several elements to investigate his kidnappers, as they let him see their faces. But those sirens... Would the police really announce to people with a hostage that they are coming? They didn't know Conan had escaped, and doing this could allow the culprits to run away or, if they couldn't, they'd be ready to use their hostage. Usually they'd try to surround the place without being spotted.

So maybe they weren't coming here to help him. But if it was the case, maybe catching his captors' attention would slow their escape enough for the police to arrive and arrest them. But it was really risky, if they grabbed him... He wasn't as fast as he could with his injuries and they were two.

Thinking hard, Conan carefully checked their position while trying his best to stay out of their view. Maybe if he lured them with speakers around and in the building, he could buy enough time?

But before he could move to try his idea, a screech of tires caught his attention. A car was racing toward the criminals and stopped before them, letting a masked man shout through the open window :

"We can't wait any longer, get in, we have to go!"

Conan recognized Shiro from the voice and his silhouette. Midori and Kuro gave up their search and got into the car. Shiro barely wait for the door to close before he sped up. Conan watched the car until it got out of sight and sighed. Sure, they got away, but at least he was free and didn't have to run from them anymore.

The shrunken teen left his hideout to walk toward the sirens, but his vision blurred, his legs went numb and weak and he leaned against a wall until he reached the ground and closed his eyes.

* * *

 _ **As usual, I have no idea when I'll post the next one. It'll be an average chapter, my exams are over, but well, we'll see!**_

 _ **Translation finished and chapter posed on the 15-01-2018**_


	10. Chapter 10 : Back to square one

Hello !

I know, the last update was a pretty long time ago (wow, almost two months, already?!), but well, I was busy, I have a bit too many fanfictions going on right know and my motivation is on a roller-coaster.

But don't worry, as usual, I may be slow, but I'll update some day! Sorry again for the wait!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 10 : Back to square one**

* * *

"He was held prisoner here, that's for sure."

Kgoro nodded while looking at undone rope knots and fragments on the ground in a room with purple walls. Some of the remains were the ones from Conan's badge, the same his friend, the girl living with Agasa, had. As they thought, it was probably destroyed after Conan talked to Ai.

One could think they just got away before they arrived, taking their hostage with them, but a draft finally made him notice the window wasn't correctly closed, probably because someone tried to close it from outside. As he approached said window, he noticed the marks on the edge had been erased at some places, as if someone climb here.

The sleuth turned toward Megure, who was watching his investigation, waiting for his opinion.

"I think he escaped after calling his friend. Which means neither he hid somewhere, neither his kidnappers noticed and caught him again. Unluckily, the second is the most probable, or Conan would have walked to us when we arrived, or would have by now."

The portly inspector nodded.

"I was thinking along the same lines, but who knows. He may have walked away to find a phone or get out of his captors' reach and didn't notice us coming. I already sent Takagi and Satô to take a look and ask the people in the neighbourhood."

* * *

"Ding-dong."

A voice responded immediately.

"Coming!"

Takagi exchanged a look with Satô. They didn't wait very long indeed.

A young man opened the door. He was smiling, far from the picture people would have of a criminal, but the two policemen had enough experience to know someone's appearance can be misleading. Really.

"Hello! What brings you there?"

"We are from the police", Satô begin as she showed her emblem.

The man stiffened.

"Cops? We don't see you very often around here. Did something happen? You're not coming to tell me someone in my family died, right?"

He seemed really worried about this possibility. Satô smiled.

"No, don't worry. We are investigating a child's dissapearance. Did you see one around by any chance?"

The man relaxed and seemed to pay more attention.

"A child?" he repeated, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"A young child, about six or seven years old, with big glasses. We think he may be around, so if you or anyone has any information..."

The man nodded a 'no' with his head.

"Some kids play around sometimes, but they're several and they're more like teens."

"Are you sure? You saw no one like this today or yesterday?"

He made a 'no' sign again.

"No, really. But I don't go out a lot. Maybe you'll learn more with the neightboors."

"Well, thanks for your time. Sorry for the trouble!"

"It's nothing... Good luck, and good bye."

He looked the two policemen walk away before closing the door, still surprised.

The police, now? Why? Yeah, he heard sirens not long ago, which made him hurry, but it was probably for something else, maybe an ambulance's, because it didn't get here. So why now? How did they get there?

The guy shrugged. It didn't really matter, as the policemen didn't suspect him. He should be fine.

He entered the living room and sent Conan a smirk.

"See? They didn't notice you're there."

"It's because they didn't think you might be in league with the others."

He man laughed.

"Damn right you are, and it's better this way! Soon, you'll leave and I won't have to care about this anymore."

Conan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"My friends are coming to pick you up, of course!"

"Despite the policeman arou-"

Conan was cut off by his throat's state, which was only getting worse and worse since he woke up. He curled because of his coughing fit, feeling like his throat was on fire and that he'd end up coughing his lungs out, which were also painful since he woke up. In fact, nothing felt ok since he woke up. He thought things would be fine after he escaped... What a moron!

Obviously, the lack of proper sleep, food and water, along with his illness and injuries made him loose consciousness. It wasn't good to accumulate all of this, no matter your age.

The man looked at him with a mocking smile before it turned into pity.

"Do you want some water?"

Conan straighened up, trying to stop coughing. He finally simply nodded, unable to speak at the time. That's why the man didn't gag him : he simply couldn't yell to alert the policemen. He would barely utter a whole sentence! In such condition, no one would hear him or his coughing fit from the entrance.

The boy sighed as the pain in his throat calmed down for a bit. He noticed the person who was currently helding him captive was gone in another room, and took the opportunity to try to undo the bounds around his wrists again, but didn't succeed. He already checked for sharp objects near him, and there wasn't any.

That man was his initial kidnappers' accomplice. After their escape, one of them asked him to look for their missing hostage, knowing very well what would happen if the police found him first. The man quickly spotted him, unconscious near the entrance of one of the buildings near where he was being held prisoner, and carried him home trying not to be seen by anyone. Following the others' advice, who told him about his intelligence and stubborness, he tied the kid's wrists around a vertical beam in his living room near the wall. Construction flaw or strange decoration, it was usually more trouble than anything, even if it had some charm, but today the man found it to be pretty convenient. A beam can't be moved, so the child wouldn't move either. Tying up the wrists was enough.

But was convenient for his captor wasn't for Conan. What's more, being ill didn't help to think of a solution.

The man was back with a glass of water and kneeled down before his prisoner.

"You better not move", he told him.

Conan put on his best innocent child act.

"Can't you untie me so I can drink? It'd be easier."

The guy glared at him and sighed.

"Which I could, but they told me to be careful. You're too sneaky and smart for that. Sorry, but I don't want to be too mixed up in all this."

Before the child could argue, he added :

"But I can bring back the water if you really don't want me to help you".

"No, it's ok, I'll manage."

The man smiled and let him drink, raising the glass slowly enough so water didn't pour on his hostage's clothes.

It was pretty humiliating, but it felt so nice and cool on his throat that the sleuth didn't pay attention. The man left again to bring back the glass and Conan enjoyed the feeling, as the thirst he didn't even notice because it has been there for too long calmed down a bit. Now, he had to find a solution to let the policemen who were around know that he was there. He didn't know the one who knocked here were Satô and Takagi, but he knew they were probably looking for him. But he didn't have his badge anymore, and he couldn't yell. Hell, he could barely talk for more than a minute, and not very loudly!

To add some challenge, he didn't have much time left before his former kidnappers came back. He didn't know how they were planning this, but they would certainly not forget to make him pay for his escape, or maybe change their plans and kill him sooner...

Hell, how did everything suddenly went so wrong?

But something was bothering Conan. That man who was helping his captors... This situation wasn't right. Who wouldn't be surprised to be called, even by friends, and be asked to help to hold a child prisoner? It didn't make sense, along with the fact that the man complied. Why wasn't he with the others then, if he could do such things? Was it because he didn't seem to like it very much, unlike the others who just seemed not to care? The criminals also probably choose their hideout because they knew they had an ally around if things went wrong, and because where wasn't much people here. Seeing how paranoiad they were, it wouldn't surprise him. But each time, they were a step ahead in front of Conan, he had to take some advance on them too now.

The man got back while pocketing his phone, which caught the detective's attention. Did he receive a message from his former captors?

"We're going to do this a bit later than planned, so the cops won't be around. Until then, be nice, ok?"

Conan nodded. He couldn't do anything right now, and even if he found a way to call the police or escape, it would probably be easier if he didn't show a fighting spirit. A defiant glare would have set the man on guard, more than he already was, which he didn't need on top of everything else.

But hell, what could he do? The man was careful enough, and he couldn't get rid of his bounds with his nails, they were too short as he cut them lately. The only moment would be when they would untie him, but then his kidnappers would probably be there, so he doubted to have a chance.

Still, he couldn't help but smile as the man left in another room. If he was alone, and the criminals were coming later than expected, maybe it would give him enough time to think of a solution, right?

* * *

 _ **So, as you probably already know, I have no idea when the next chapter will be ready. Hopefully not in four months =P Until then, see you and take care!**_

 _ **Translation finished and poster on 12-03-2018 (French date)**_


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